Nightmare Fuel / Weight of the World

Warning: Spoilers Off applies to Nightmare Fuel pages. Proceed at your own risk.

Weight of the World

General

• America has nightmares about being trapped in Vale/Amber's pod. He can't move or call for help as the machine turns on and something inside him is torn out. He was dreaming about the partial Aura transfer from Amber's POV.
• The breach causes America so much pain in his head, chest, and stomach that he vomits. The twins do not know about America's connection with Vale yet, so Canada has no idea why his brother became "randomly" ill.

Chapter One: In the Rain

• America and Canada wake up in the mud in clothes they do not recognize with no memory of how they got there and no idea where they are.

Chapter Four: Collision

• A woman and her young son are nearly killed by an Ursa. America saves them just in time.

Chapter Nine: Vacation

• America is called to Ozpin's office. When he enters, he recognizes Ironwood as one of the men who kidnapped him and his brother. Believing it's a trap, he panics and tries to fight Ozpinati off but falls unconscious with people he's no longer sure he can trust.

Chapter Ten: The Missing Days

• The twins' abduction. They were walking to get dinner in the middle of London when they were snatched, and had absolutely no warning about what was going to happen and no way to call for help. At first America thought it was merely an attempted mugging, but then it turns out the gun-toting soldiers know exactly who and what the twins are.
• When America wakes up after recovering his memories of the lab, he opens his eyes to see Ozpinati looming over him, outlined in the flickering green light of the Vault. Teachers he trusted turned out to have dark secrets he did not know about, one of said teachers is responsible for his prior abduction, and he is alone with them in an unknown location with no way to contact help. There's a reason his thoughts compare the scenario to a horror movie.

Chapter Fourteen: National Pride

• While Ozpinati is stunned by their appearance, the nations immediately, silently, and efficiently subdue Ironwood, Qrow, and Glynda before they can attempt to fight back while England points a glowing magical staff at Ozpin. If the nations did not show restraint to the people they had every right to believe abducted the twins and instead appeared guns blazing, Ozpinati might be dead then and there (or at least severely wounded). And they, unlike the nations, don't have a Healing Factor.

Chapter Sixteen: Fallen Sky

• Yang attacks someone she thinks is an enemy but is actually America. From his point of view, he accidentally bumps into his friend and she goes ballistic, beating him within an inch of his life as he begs her to stop before shooting him in the gut.
• One of the people interviewed after Yang's attack is a father. How many children were present on the Fairgrounds and witnessed Yang's assault? How many would have been hit if America did not block the shots with his body?
• America is in the Fairgrounds, surrounded by Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training when Yang attacks him. Not a single one steps in to help him.

Chapter Twenty: Crash and Burn

• Ruby's recklessness finally gets the best of her and she loses an eye. Even worse, Japan knew she was not ready for the fight against Neo and told her flat out. She doesn't listen, rushes into battle, and is injured all while he can only watch helplessly.

Chapter Twenty-One: The Last Stand

• Cinder's thoughts as she hunts Alfred. He isn't a person to her, but an obstacle to be eliminated at all costs and it's implied she would not merely have killed him if she caught him.
• How close Pyrrha came to her canonical death. Though she stands no chance against Cinder, Pyrrha desperately tries to hold her off at the base of the tower so Jaune can escape with a barely-conscious America. Canada arrives just in time to push Cinder's arrow so it hits Pyrrha in the shoulder instead of her chest.

The Shattered Soul

General

• Tyrian's scenes with Canada and France are reminiscent of a stalker or serial killer targeting and playing with their victim. He's obsessed with capturing them and takes sadistic glee in tormenting his targets like a predator playing with its food. He wants them terrified of him before he captures them.

Chapter One: Alfred

• While Mind Raping America and attempting to destroy his soul, Vale slowly impales him and rips him apart while he struggles to fight her off. Unless time passed differently in America's mind, the torture went on for weeks.

Chapter Two: Deception

• Neo in general. She acts playful and adorable while contemplating whether to kill America just to see the fear and betrayal in his eyes as he dies. And America is completely oblivious.

Chapter Three: Higanbana

• Neo, Mercury, and Roman's interactions with the amnesiac America are unsettling. The audience is aware of their true nature but America is memoryless, innocent, and naive, so he fails to understand things like how Neo murdered the waitress that recognized him by drowning her (or stabbed her and threw her body in a river). America is traveling with ruthless criminals and has no idea.

Chapter Five: Discontent is the Contagion

• The refugee airship the heroes ride on is a civilian craft built only for travel in the City of Vale's borders. It has no weapons to defend itself with when the Grimm attack.

Chapter Nine: Inevitable

• Roman loses his Affably Evil demeanor when America cuts his face, brutally beating him up and ranting while America is curled up on the ground. Underneath that suave, charming mask is someone just as murderous, unhinged, and violent as Neo and Tyrian.

Chapter Eleven: (Some) Secrets Revealed

• Raven slashes America's throat without hesitation just because he refuses to join her tribe. She has no qualms about murdering an innocent, random, wounded person and sees it as a Mercy Kill.

Chapter Twelve: Memory

• America has to travel alone through Grimm-infested woods after being betrayed and left to die by his "friends". Let that sink in.

Chapter Thirteen: Split and Converge

• Tyrian has No Sense of Personal Space in the worst way. He captures America, holds him in a twisted perversion of a hug from behind, and threatens him with his stinger, happily telling him he will take America to his Goddess. With all the unnecessary touching Tyrian gives off a creepy rapist-like vibe. Brr.

Chapter Fifteen: Sever Their Trust

• After all the betrayals and tragedy he has experienced, America snaps and calmly burns everything around him with a serene expression on his face. Though he does not attack anyone directly, he does not care about anyone present— not even his brothers— and is content to stay back and watch Kuroyuri burn until Ruby calls out to him for help.

The Depths of Deception

General

• How did the Atlas soldiers force America to not fight back in the flashbacks? By threatening to cut up Canada and use him as Human Resources if America acted out.
• The treatment of the twins in general at the lab is a display of the worst of humanity. A majority of the scientists and guards did not see the nations as humans and had no qualms about abducting, imprisoning, torturing, dissecting, and experimenting on them. One of the scientists even calls America a "creature".
• Whenever Pyrrha unleashes her Semblance full force it is terrifying. She can throw shipping containers around like nothing and has learned to break metal objects apart: i.e. turning them into shrapnel and throwing them at high speeds. It's a good thing she's on the heroes' side.

Chapter Six: Unforgiven

• America and Canada disappear from London during a World Conference. At a different Conference, Japan fails to show up. Instead he runs off to say goodbye to America without telling anyone. No wonder China is angry with him.

Chapter Eleven: Not His Sacrifice

• According to Raven, there was not enough of Summer left to be buried after the Grimm were finished with her.

Chapter Fifteen: Dark Side

• Pyrrha's nightmare. America is in the transfer machine and pounds on the glass, begging to be freed. Pyrrha goes to help him but Ironwood and Ozpin stop her before turning the machine on. America writhes in pain and screams, spitting up blood as he weakly pounds on the glass. Unaffected by America's pain, Ozpin and Ironwood insist this is necessary while Pyrrha watches in horror and is unable to move. After a period of tortured writhing and screaming, America goes limp, leaving a trail of bloody fingerprints on the glass. Pyrrha rips the door off the machine and it bisects Penny, whose upper half falls to the ground. She then crawls towards Pyrrha with wires trailing from her severed torso like entrails, calling Pyrrha a murderer. The wires wrap around Pyrrha's body, up to her throat, and begin to strangle her before she wakes.
  • She wakes up swinging and nearly impales Canada with the metal headboard of her bed.

Chapter Sixteen: Disgust

• Kuchinashi. It's a hellhole city of criminal activity. In the short period of time Yang and JNR first walk through its streets they were followed by an unseen figure and pass by a drug dealer, starving children, a purse theft, a beating, a mugging, and a murder. ^note  In addition, all three of the last three instances are separate from each other. And no one reacts to any of it.

Chapter Seventeen: Psych 101

• England receives pictures through email that show someone is following his little brother.

Chapter Twenty-One: Cark It

• The scene where America is dissected alive the second time utilizes vague descriptions to a horrifying degree. America can only lay there helplessly as the scientists cut him up, slowly becoming aware of what is happening as the anesthesia fades and his drug-addled mind clears. The scientists then stops using anesthesia and repeatedly drugs him with a paralyzing drug so he can't struggle as his liver is removed.
• Ironwood executes the scientist and assistant without an ounce of hesitation. The deaths are sudden and startling. His following threat to his men and possibly America is chilling:
  Ironwood: "And let this be a warning not to allow this to happen again. We have our orders. Atlas will not be disobeyed."
• In order to get Greenlee to talk, England threatens to convince the UN to send nukes to bomb Atlas. Complete with falsely peaceful Tranquil Fury. After everything Atlas put the twins through, it's easy to see England isn't bluffing.
• Through more lovely vague descriptions, its shown the Karkadann Grimm is eating Greenlee's corpse after killing him.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Unprotected Exposure

• The Karkadann Grimm is a fast, powerful Lightning Bruiser with acidic skin, a poisonous horn, a scream that can shatter glass, and an almost impenetrable hide. Merely touching it eats away at a person's Aura, and it's so strong it can swat Russia away like nothing. America has to blow up its head with lightning in order to stop it.
  • Speaking of which, America was this close to being taken back to Remnant and the enemy.
• As brought up by Australia, either Atlas can somehow control Grimm or Salem has access to Atlas portal tech. Pick your poison.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Disaster

• Neo's wounds were purposely inflicted in a way that would prolong her suffering and give her a slow death. She was in agony and slowly dying for three days. She may be a psychotic villain but she didn't deserve to die like that.
  • Not to mention Emerald was the one who did that to her. That does not bode well for Emerald's current mindset...
• Adam easily turns Blake's Faunus against each other with only a few words. One minute they were united, the next they are fighting each other and attacking their friends, with no way to tell who is on who's side. One of the Faunus goes from standing peacefully behind Blake to trying to shoot her in the back of the head. If Blake did not have Aura to take the bullet, she would be dead.
• England pins America down on the ritual array with magic. America ^note  and the audience since the explanation can be easily missed forgets it can be only used once and struggles to break free, screaming and begging England not to sever his connection with Vale's people.
• America nearly agrees to do the ritual without knowing what it truly does. Without his full memories, he is not fully aware of many things and does not know what questions to ask. He's been taken advantage of multiple times but chooses to trust people he thinks he should be able to trust, primarily his brothers, and relies on them to explain things to him. England takes advantage of his amnesiac brother to knowingly and purposely keep vital information from him and get him to agree to a ritual that would hurt him and America would never agree to otherwise. What the hell, England?

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Drafted Into Service

• In just one scene it's made very, very clear that Doctor Polendina has lost it.

The Atrocities of Atlas

Chapter One: Fathers and Daughters

• England brings up that Atlas likely knows Salem's forces think France is Vacuo, so Atlas may intend to use him as a decoy.
• Polendina and his demeanor.
  • He keeps an affable front while threatening America and physically hurting him. It's unclear if he is so caught up in his plans he is oblivious to the pain he causing or he simply does not care.
  • Polendina casually mentions that he is not sure if America's Semblance is voice-activated. He claims the gag is a compromise, otherwise he would remove America's vocal chords.
  • He threatens to torture France, Romano, and Australia if America steps out of line.
  • He nearly breaks America's arm using only a Dust-powered glove.
  • He gets a hungry look on his face when he calls America's Semblance a "gift".
  • This is all in his first post-Penny's death appearance.
• America is terrified of doing the wrong thing and setting Polendina off in a way that is uncomfortably similar to a child trying not to anger an Abusive Parent.
• Polendina is working with someone. He was supposed to give America to them but chose to keep him instead. We don't find out who his "associates" are.

Chapter Two: Dark Thoughts

• The Atlas-mission group has to remain cheerful and positive on their way to Atlas or they risk attracting the Grimm lurking in the waters below them. Simply thinking about the danger could bring the danger to them. When Italy begins to panic, Ren has to calm him down with his Semblance.
• Polendina starves America and keeps him in isolation with only the inactivated Penny duplicate for company. He is alone and chained up in a freezing room with the cold, corpse-like body of his friend right next to him. Even worse, America recognizes the elementary torture techniques Polendina is implementing but is helpless to stop them as he slowly cracks in the conditions.

Chapter Three: Slice and Sink

• When soldiers come to drug France (again), he is aware enough to know what is happening but is too weak to stop them. Australia and Romano can't help him either. They can only watch.
• Polendina drops all niceties and threatens to remove America's larynx and voice box if he's lying about his Semblance.
• Polendina leaves behind a recording of Penny's death for America to watch. He sees his friend bisected by his other friend. Over and over. Nonstop.
• The City of Mantle fell into the sinkhole created by the mine's collapse and resulting Dust explosions. An entire city was swallowed by the earth in a matter of minutes. Imagine what it must have been like for the citizens there.
• Before the Vytal Festival Tournament, Penny told Doctor Polendina about her new friends Alfred and Matthew after she met them. The only reason the twins were not recaptured when they were working at Dusk Till Dawn is because Polendina decided not to tell Ironwood and Atlas he found them. The twins had no idea they were that close to recapture until Polendina tells America this months later.

Chapter Four: Confrontation

• "Do I need to remind you what Grimm do to humans? We'd survive it."

Chapter Five: Rotten Core

• The Phoenix Grimm:
  • It can set anything it touches on fire, including an entire countryside.
  • Like many of the more powerful Grimm, it's Nigh-Invulnerable. Bullets bounce off of it like they're made from rubber.
  • It grabs Germany and Spain in its talons and almost burns them alive.
• As soon as the cargo ship enters Atlas airspace, the military threatens to shoot them down. There is no pause to check if they have permission to be there, if they need assistance, or if they have children aboard. Just an ultimatum: Leave or die.

Chapter Six: "Good" Soldiers

• The guards Polendina hired are ex-soldiers fired from the Atlas lab. They were fired because America and Canada escaped. America is completely at his captors' mercy, so many soldiers that hold a grudge act on it.
  • A soldier paralyzes America with drugs. He cannot speak or move as the soldier cuts his back over and over again until he stops healing and the wounds remain. While doing this, the soldier presses himself against America's half-naked body from behind, mockingly asking him if he's uncomfortable with his personal space being invaded. The soldier does this simply because he can and America is completely helpless to stop him.

Chapter Seven: Little Voice in His Head

• America is knocked out after realizing Vale is in his head. He wakes up on the floor, completely naked. His captors stripped him while he was unconscious and left him there with a note telling him to take a shower. He steps out of the shower and two guards (one of whom is the above-mentioned soldier) come in. The Ax-Crazy soldier convinces his fellow guard to take out his anger on America. The other guard does so, beating America up before shoving him back into the shower to wash the new blood off.
  • The above two scenes play out uncomfortably similar to rape scenes. ^note  Enough so that some readers thought that was where the scenes were headed.

Chapter Eight: Ultimatum

• Ruby sees a sad old man crying on a park bench. She goes to comfort him and as they talk, reveals she is there looking for her friend. She tells the man her friend's name, and he immediately says he needs to leave. Ruby unintentionally told Polendina people were there looking for Alfred, pushing him to discard his remaining reservations and pull out an Aura-draining gauntlet to rip out a part of America's soul. She was talking to America's kidnapper and she has no idea who he was or what she has done.
• Polendina plans to use an Aura-draining gauntlet to rip out a part of America's soul and use America's Semblance himself to resurrect Penny. The way he goes from ranting about having no choice and blaming America for it to calmly explaining what he is going to do is terrifying, especially when paired with how he tries to comfort a panicking America before the procedure. He gently pats America's hair with the hand without the gauntlet and hushes him softly as America sobs and struggles to breathe. Worst of all, his sorrow seems sincere, yet it does not stop him from continuing.
  • The setup for the procedure itself is reminiscent of a mad doctor planning to remove a patient's organs in order to put them in a loved one. America is paralyzed but completely aware as the soldiers hold him in place while Polendina retrieves his tools.
• Polendina is willing to tear America's soul apart and leave him in an inescapable coma in order to bring Penny back. His morals are completely gone and there are no limits to what he will do to succeed.
• It's revealed Vale/Amber was completely aware when her Aura/soul was being drained from her body back at Beacon.
• Again, America is paralyzed and completely helpless as Polendina lays the Aura-draining gauntlet on his head. He cannot struggle in any way or beg his captor not to rip part of his soul out. In the end, he is left with no choice but to activate Penny 2.0 in order to survive.
• Penny 2.0's "Semi-automatic eyelid closing" is offline. Oh boy...
• Atlas has become a Military State right out of a Dystopian novel. The people continue with their lives in happy obliviousness and are seemingly oblivious to how the closed borders will affect them and the increased military presence. When a Faunus is violently arrested in the middle of a park for "stealing", none of them bat an eye. There is a strict curfew, and one of the citizens that Sun talks to mentions that certain games have been banned, including Remnant: The Game, which Blake internally recalls is laying under Yang's bed.

Chapter Nine: Activated

• Penny 2.0. Upon awakening, she massacres the soldiers. Among the carnage she slices one's throat, snaps another's neck, and impales a third before dropping his body to the ground. All with an emotionless expression on her face. When she finally turns to America, he is certain she is going to kill him too and shuts his eyes so he does not have to see a copy of his friend murder him.
• Penny has absolutely no qualms about killing the remaining soldiers. In fact, she takes the initiative to hunt them all down because they are a threat to Alfred F. Jones. Most of them did not see their deaths coming, and one particular soldier almost had his head completely torn off.
• Penny's wires and weapons appear to have a mind of their own. They are like living tentacles that constantly twitch, flick, and sway, even when she is absolutely still.
• You know the corrupted text that appeared randomly in a couple chapters? It's dialogue from a brainwashing session Australia is listening to.
• The Ax-Crazy soldier's last attack on America. He sneaks up behind America and menaces him with a dagger as he pins America in a perversion of a hug from behind. He then kisses America's neck and caresses his skin while taunting him. America is too terrified to fight as the soldier shoves him to the ground and starts cutting him again.

Chapter Ten: Waiting Game

• Penny is essentially America's robotic stalker. She follows him everywhere and always watches him with unblinking eyes and no expression. She went so far as to break the door down and follow him into the bathroom every single time until he had a panic attack. The only reason she gives him any amount of privacy is because she was told it would be beneficial to his health aka stop him from becoming physically ill due to stress. It is in no way Played for Laughs.
• Atlas is trying to brainwash France into thinking he's Vacuo.

Chapter Eleven: Internal Strife

• Silver Eyes causes the S.E.W. to lose all rational thought and attack everyone around them. "How?", you may ask: By disintegrating them.
• Salem revealed herself to draw Summer Rose into a trap. Ozpin says Summer was alone in the Grimmlands and likely Auraless and helpless when she died. Imagine going to face an enemy, only to be ambushed by her top agents, overwhelmed, and killed.

Chapter Twelve: Pawns

• The airship America and Penny are flying in crashes. America slams into a console just as a city in Vale is under attack and suffers from internal bleeding. The descriptions are vague but nauseating with his insides described as feeling "sloshy". He passes out as he tries to reassure a panicking Penny he is fine.
• The scene with Weiss in the market is filled with Paranoia Fuel. Soldiers are everywhere, and Weiss knows that one person recognizing her and shouting her name will bring the soldiers down upon her to drag her off to her father.
• A woman is accused of breaking the embargo laws. She is dragged off (presumably to the Transformation Institute) sobbing and pleading her innocence. One of the remaining soldiers coldly tells the passerby that there is nothing to see and everyone hurries away, terrified of being next.
• Neon has to hide her Faunus traits or risk being targeted and arrested. Her brother went missing and her father is the Faunus who was accused of stealing in chapter eight and arrested. Neon is alone in a Kingdom that hates her kind, and some of her classmates are waiting for an excuse to have her kicked out of Atlas Academy. She also mentions that people are "there one night and gone the next".

Chapter Thirteen: Cycle

• America follows Penny 2.0, who he think he can trust, into the mines. She leads him into a trap set by Ironwood. Even worse, she didn't understand she did anything wrong until Ironwood beats up America until his Aura dispels and makes to shoot him in the head. Also, Penny did not assist America out of a moral change of heart; she assists him only because Ironwood sought to harm Alfred F. Jones and that went against her mission.
• Ironwood (accidentally) grabs America's injured shoulder, making him scream. Ironwood then yanks America's shirt up to see the scars there and touches his shoulder. Again, he pulls up a restrained America's shirt and touches his bare back. He does not ask to look and has no regard for America's comfort or privacy until America flinches. Yes, Ironwood had no bad intentions and apologizes but considering the last time someone did that, no wonder America internally panicked.
• Ironwood's words when he is about to shoot America in the head:
  Ironwood: "Vale must be kept out of Salem's hands to protect this world. That is my only goal. If you die here, you will be reincarnated. If you aren't reincarnated, that's even better. Then Salem will never get all four Relics. And if you're lying and you survive, I have a nice cell set up for you where no one will find you again."

Chapter Fourteen: Not So Little Secrets

• In-universe Fridge Horror: America and Penny arrive at their exit from the mines. It leads into the slums. Instead of an elevator, there is only a fraying rope. Penny states that the elevator was removed. America questions why since the passage is for evacuations, and Penny stares at him silently. America realizes the implications but tries not to think about it. The implications, in case it isn't clear, is that the impoverished of the slums would rush into the tunnels and find only the frayed rope waiting for them. It would likely break, sending the climbers falling to their deaths, with more shoved down the shaft as the panicked crowd frantically tries to reach "safety."

Chapter Fifteen: Sand and Snow

• A man approaches America in the slums. He seems friendly enough at first but has a sleazy, unsettling demeanor that becomes more and more obvious as the conversation goes on. He claims to be a businessman and offers America and Penny a place to stay, but grows increasingly manipulative and creepy. He slowly steps closer and closer to America while looking him over in a way that makes America uncomfortable and offers him a "job" and a place to sleep. It's clear this man is in the type (a type that is never definitively stated) that takes advantage of desperate people that find themselves on the streets. A more naive person may have genuinely believed the man wished to help them with no strings attached, but luckily America is smart enough to politely decline and walk away as quickly as he can.

Chapter Sixteen: Guilt

• America's nightmare. He "wakes up" to see Ironwood looming over him. The "General" shoves his revolver into America's mouth to keep him silent and demands to know where he has hidden "it". America cannot answer, so Ironwood begins tearing him apart to find "it" as his features grow more and more Grimm-like.

Chapter Seventeen: Bad Omens

• The Spawner Fox Grimm. It's a gigantic monstrosity that's larger than a house and (like its more durable kin) it's immune to bullets. It easily plows through the nations of the Taskforce, pinning Sweden beneath its gigantic paw and batting Finland away "like a fly". While facing it, the Taskforce is almost overwhelmed by the lesser Grimm that constantly spawn from its saliva.

Chapter Eighteen: AGATE

• Two guards approach Weiss and demand that she removes her scarf. When she hesitates, one of the guards rips the scarf from her head. The guard is gleefully happy to have caught a "Faunus" in disguise before she realizes who Weiss is. Canada erases the guards' memories of the discovery as Weiss covers her hair. Canada pretends to be an airheaded citizen and forces himself to laugh like the encounter was a silly joke and the guards were funny for believing Weiss could be a Faunus. The guards immediately change their tune, act pleasant, and "apologize" for the inconvenience. Weiss (who had locks of hair torn out with her scarf) painfully says it's fine and they are only trying to keep Atlas safe. Yikes.
• Winter tells America that he is wanted by the military. The public does not know about him, and the higher-ups gave no reason why America was to be captured. It seems Ironwood is very keen to keep people from knowing that Alfred exists so no one will miss him if he vanishes.
• Grimm have been picking off people in isolated areas on Earth. The death toll is in the tens of thousands and the Taskforce and Earth's governments had no clue until Germany figured it out.

Chapter Twenty: Iron Heart

• America is taken into the Institute with no due process. He is captured and dragged straight to a brainwashing facility without the guards knowing his name. The guards do not seem to recognize him, so as far as they are aware, they are imprisoning a random teenager that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They don't care.
• The Transformation Institute. Holy crap, the Transformation Institute. It's inhabitants are kept in small, dank stone cells. According to a guard, the luckiest are left alone and forgotten. The less lucky are brainwashed, tortured, executed, or "sent to spend quality time with the soldiers."
• A guard would have shot a prisoner in his cell just because he could if Winter was not present. Such random killings and vicious violence against prisoners are perfectly normal in the Institute (and might be encouraged).
• The drugging scene. Ironwood takes America to his office and immediately paralyzes him before he can try anything. He then strips America ^note  searching for tech that America can use his Semblance on before interrogating America about Penny's whereabouts. When America refuses to answer, Ironwood drugs him again. And again. And again. And again. America is paralyzed and helpless as his thoughts go fuzzy, and eventually he can only feel the coldness of the drug as he is injected with more and more of it. He begs Ironwood to stop before losing his sense of everything except the cold. He nearly succumbs to unconsciousness but manages to grasp Vale's fire and burn the drug out. Even then, he is too weak to fight and Ironwood easily restrains him. Thank goodness Ironwood comprehended how far he had fallen and could not go through with shooting America.
• America's fight with Ironwood. Yes, Ironwood turned against Atlas and had America fight him to solidify himself as the villain (and America as a hero) but the fight is brutal. Ironwood beats America bloody, drags him up by his hair, puts him in a chokehold, and pins him down over a table. His attack is vicious enough that America questions whether Ironwood's Heel–Face Turn was an elaborate trick.

Chapter Twenty-One: Mercy

• The Institute guards have no empathy for the prisoners in the Institute. In fact, they think the prisoners' pain, misery, and deaths are funny.
• Two guards make bets on what Ironwood did to shut up "the screamer" (America). One predicts that Ironwood cut out his tongue to silence him.
• France is unable to help America as he is harassed and threatened by the guards. All he can do is glare at them and thrash in his bonds. He sees America's bruises and injuries (which include handprints around his throat) and can only imagine what the younger nation has gone through.
• Once France is freed, his anger boils over and he viciously attacks his unconscious guards. He beats both of them bloody before snatching America's weapon from his hand. When America tries to stop him, France snarls at him that these men are evil and America is a fool for showing them mercy. Winter stops France from using Cobalt Striker to kill the guards and silently hands him one of her rapiers. He unflinchingly slashes the guards' throats and America looks away and shuts his eyes.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Level Six

• After the alarms go off, the Institute guards begin executing prisoners in their cells so they can't be rescued.
• Pyrrha releases a Faunus woman from her cell, but the woman attacks her. Pyrrha is forced to knock the woman out to stop her, and another prisoner informs her that the woman attacks and kills anyone not in an Atlas uniform. The woman's cell has blood on its walls, and it's implied little (if any) comes from her.
• When America reaches Australia and Romano's cell, Romano is comatose (essentially the Earth nation's version of death). We don’t know what happened to make him that way.
• The instant Penny sees Pyrrha, her eyes turn red and she attacks her. She drags Pyrrha away from America in her wires and menaces Pyrrha's throat with her swords. If America had not screamed that Pyrrha was his bodyguard, ^note Thus, Pyrrha is a person assisting in Penny's mission to protect Alfred F. Jones. she would have killed Pyrrha right then and there, with no hesitation. Penny then demands that Pyrrha explain her actions during the Vytal Festival Tournament. She nearly strangles Pyrrha with her wires and nicks her skin with her swords, which hover around Pyrrha "like a floating Iron Maiden". Penny states that her programming insists that Pyrrha Nikos is a threat and needs to die. Worst of all, Pyrrha doesn't fight back because she thinks she deserves to die for her "crime."
• America finds a male Faunus prisoner. He has been severely beaten and his tail was broken and improperly healed.
• The end of the chapter is chilling. It shows exactly what Atlas thinks of America. He isn't a living, sentient being to her; he's a prize.
  Blue eyes raked over America's features with a mixture of hunger, disgust, and greed, as if she had glanced into a mud pile and discovered a diamond covered with filth. Their gazes locked, and in that moment, America was not a person. Nor was he granted the comparative dignity of being a subhuman specimen in her eyes. To Atlas, he was nothing more than an object to be acquired, an obstacle to be conquered, a trophy to be won no matter the cost. His face must have betrayed his discomfort for Atlas's lips curled into a smirk, oozing with arrogant satisfaction.
  "It has been a while, Vale."

Chapter Twenty-Three: Hero Lost in Time

• Atlas is disturbingly calm and polite when conversing with America. She maintains that pleasant, polite tone when threatening to break every bone in his body.
• During their fight, Atlas purposely targets the frozen Weiss and Ruby, forcing America to protect them.
• Atlas's torture of America. She slowly impales him with a spear through the stomach, multiple times, and freezes him with her Semblance so he cannot fight back. She mocks him, mentioning how the placement of the wounds was appropriate considering what happened to him before. ^note  with Yang. She promises she'll have her men come into his cell and stab him in a similar fashion every waking hour until he's a mental wreck and begs for death. She claims she does not "need him sane or healthy." she just needs Vale's Aura to someday retrieve the Relic of Choice. When he refuses to cry, scream, or show any type of reaction other than contempt and mockery, she loses her temper and furiously impales him in a blind rage while demanding he beg her to stop.
• America is blacking out and cannot do anything to stop Atlas as she throws a spear at the unaware Ruby.
• Qrow's apparent death makes Ruby activate Silver Eyes. Oh no.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Useless Italy

• We finally see what Silver Eyes can do, and it's terrifying. Upon activating them, Ruby's first act is to disintegrate Atlas's whole arm, followed by her ear. She chases Atlas with a feral focus and when Atlas escapes her, Ruby instantly turns on her friends. Weiss's attempts to calm her down utterly fail and Ruby chases her down before throwing her through a wall. Ruby then goes after Japan and successfully disintegrates his leg. She pins him down and uses her light to slash his chest instead of finishing him off. Ruby sadistically tortures Japan with a smile on her face. Italy shoots at her to draw her attention to him and she uses her speed to appear right in front of him with a Slasher Smile. She envelopes him in the Silver Eye's disintegrating light. If Italy had not discovered his Semblance right then, his whole body would have been destroyed.
• Ruby has enough awareness to utilize her Semblance. She is an enemy with the power to obliterate anything she looks at in an instant, and she can move at supersonic speeds.
• While using Silver Eyes, Ruby turns from a sweet, cheerful, Adorkable girl into a sadistic, silent sociopath who hunts down and kills her targets with a single-minded bloodlust.

Chapter Twenty-Five: When You Get What You've Earned

• Watts's Semblance. He paralyzes his victims, leaving them aware, but can also paralyze their individual organs, including their lungs.
• Watts's past. He used to be an Atlas scientist who experimented on people to try to graft Grimm and robotic parts onto/into their bodies. Mantle's mere memory of his lab is enough to make Canada retch. And there are no more details given than that.
• Watts uses his Semblance to paralyze England's body and lungs, leaving him unable to stop Emerald and Atlas as they torture Canada. Thank the Gods Blake and Sun arrived in time...
• Emerald's upgrades. She now has Grimm-like veins implanted in her arms, which tear through her skin and can be used like tentacles to attack her foes. Then it's revealed they're the same kind Cinder used on Vale ^note  Except they're in Emerald's body instead of a glove like with Cinder. when Emerald uses them to drain part of Sun's Aura.
• When Atlas gives a detailed explanation of what tortures America endured, Canada snaps and utterly wrecks her. During that attack he blasts Atlas across the room and throws spears of ice at the floor, breaking them into shrapnel and impaling her through the eye.
• Atlas's electric baton left black burns all over Canada's skin, and he has a particularly nasty one on his side. Ergh.
• The Atlesian Knights are attacking the people of Atlas. It's the fall of Beacon all over again.
• Watts and Emerald successfully steal the Relic of Destruction. They walk out of Shade Academy without anyone stopping them. Good job, Ozpin.

Chapter Twenty-Six: And I Watch You Burn

• America is barely coherent when he wakes to find Jaune keeping him conscious with his Semblance. Jaune's Semblance is the only thing keeping him awake, but it fails to heal his wounds, leaving him in agony. America feels the Aura surrounding him and thinks Jaune is trying to overwhelm and destroy his soul like Vale. He tries to shove Jaune away but is too weak. He is unable to beg Jaune to stop so he looks to Canada for help, but Canada does nothing to stop Jaune. From America's point of view, his brother is sitting there and doing nothing as someone tries to kill him. When America realizes Canada isn't going to help him, he gives up and lets Jaune's Aura in.
• America is still grievously injured as Jaune carries him. He blacks out multiple times and forces himself to remain silent (i.e. not scream) so the attacking Atlesian Knights do not target their group.
• The first time America sees the rich section of the City of Atlas, it's burning.
• Jaune covers America with his body to protect him from falling debris. When he gets up, his armor is covered with blood. America belatedly realizes the blood is not Jaune's, but his own.
• Footage of the Institute is released. Among the images is part of an operation where a fox Faunus has his ears removed.
• The above-mentioned footage causes a split in Atlas's populace, resulting in a riot. The characters struggle to escape as people die around them. Academy teammates turn against each other and chase their classmates down. Soldiers, rebels, and armed civilians fight in the streets. Molotov Cocktails are thrown through store fronts. Pyrrha is caught in the middle of a shootout between a soldier and rioter, who don’t care that she's there as they keep trying to kill the other.
• The power goes out and the shield protecting Atlas from the elements goes with it. An unsettling rumbling echoes through the city before everything goes dark. The temperature instantly plunges and snow piles in the city.
• Russia bisects two Atlas soldiers, kol-ing all the while. He then turns on Pyrrha with a crazed expression, saying "We do not want children who can't play nice..." ^note  For those unaware, that's what Russia said before the Bloody Sunday massacre. Canada intercepts and it seems Russia is about to attack him. Thankfully Ruby snaps him out of it.
• Speaking of Ruby, she nearly goes Silver Eyes again from the stress alone.
• An airship falls into the city. It slams into a building, leaving molten glass in its wake, and explodes.
• An even larger airship falls towards Atlas. Pyrrha screams at Jaune to use his Semblance on her and struggles to set the airship between the buildings. It's so large it scrapes the sides as it goes down, and Pyrrha collapses after.
• A Faunus man recognizes Winter. He screams that the Schnees killed his family and tries to shoot her and Whitley. Other rioters hear his shout and attack the Schnees.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Safe In Their Arms

• America wakes up and sees a man in a lab coat, which makes him think he's been captured by Atlas. He hyperventilates as he lays on the bed and is barely able to move. He sees the bandages around his torso and wonders if the "scientists" put a paralyzing-drug injecting mechanism inside him while he was unconscious. He tears at the bandages but the doctor grabs his wrists and easily holds him down. America is too weak to scream for help, and can only moan pitifully. Thankfully Qrow snaps at the doctor to release America and calms him down.
• Ruby remembers everything she did while using Silver Eyes. She also says she enjoyed overpowering and hurting her friends.

The Charlatan of Choice

Chapter Two: The Fog of Denial

• The Relic of Choice can remove people's free will. Ozpin says Salem attacked Vale first so she could use Choice to force the other Kingdoms to give her the other three Relics.

Chapter Three: Haunted

• Ozpin takes over Oscar's body without permission while he is in the middle of having a heartfelt conversation with America. One minute Oscar is crying, the next Ozpin is in control. They are not in a combat situation, and there was no reason for Ozpin to do it, yet he did it anyway (something which America calls him out on). Even worse, Ozpin sees nothing wrong with what he did and completely ignores America's anger. Added with Vale's unease and panic at the thought of simply talking to Ozpin, it seems Ozpin might not be as good as previously believed.
• The way Ozpin responds to America's justifiably upset reaction ^note  to Ozpin taking over Oscar's body without asking is pure Nightmare Fuel for anyone who ever had an emotionally manipulative parent or authority figure in their lives. When America confronts him, Ozpin tries to turn it around and make it seem like America is the one who stepped out of line. He berates America for "trying to force his ideals onto Oscar" (complete with a gently disappointed tone). For context, America's "ideals" (that he suggested to an overwhelmed and crying kid) boils down to "save innocent people when you can, don't beat yourself up if you can't save everyone, and don't only focus on the big picture." Ozpin disapproves of America telling Oscar that, and tries to make America think he is in the wrong. Ozpin sounds like an emotional abuser.

Chapter Five: Trying Not to Drown

• Ironwood's trial already has a predetermined verdict: Guilty. The trial is going to be a publicized sham where everything terrible Atlas did (and then some) is pinned on Ironwood.
• Doctor Charon brought a device to record America's interview for the investigation. He apparently turns it off and asks America a few personal questions. As America leaves the room, he sees Charon turn the recorder off. Everything America said was recorded without his knowledge or consent.
  • Even worse, the things America said can be taken out of context and make Ironwood appear to be a Stalker with a Crush at best and a rapist at worst (primarily because of the "deal" he forced America to make with him). America himself realizes what his answers sound like and scrambles to explain things, but leaves the meeting with the realization that his words can be edited to fit the investigator's partially-fabricated narrative that Ironwood is an evil, remorseless, monstrous tyrant.

Chapter Six: Just One Day

• Ever had a nightmare where you wake up to see someone standing over you? America wakes up in the middle of the night to exactly that, but it isn't a dream. The intruder claps a hand over America's mouth and pins him down with his wrists over his head before Penny pulls him off America. The "intruder" turns out be Russia, but that does little to reassure America (or the audience). When America demands to know why Russia thought grabbing him like that was a good idea, Russia cheerfully says he did not want to startle him and doesn't see what's wrong.

Chapter Seven: Bad News

• The news reveals a mass grave was found under Atlas. Among the dead are children.

Chapter Eight: Cracked

• The sequence where America fights and is hunted by Ironwood and Hazel. He is drugged, his hands are bound, his strength is failing, and he is completely alone as his enemies pursue him through a burning airship. America is drugged so badly he can barely move and has to drag himself into hiding spaces because he has no hope of fighting the two directly.
• Hazel breaks an armored Atlas soldier's neck just by clenching his fingers.
• Hazel manages to capture America and is taking him to Emerald, who can teleport directly to Salem. America is drugged almost to unconsciousness and only manages to escape at the last second by releasing a powerful blast of lighting that nearly knocks him out along with his enemies. America was seconds away from being taken to Salem.

Chapter Nine: The Last

• Roman's Semblance allows him to make people so apathetic that they will not help if a crime is happening right in front of them. As a result, Nora is bleeding and Romano is beaten up and shot in front of a crowd and no one steps in to assist them until Roman leaves.
• Romano took the Relic of Creation from Nora and Romano. America ^note who can reach the last Relic, Choice is the last thing standing between Salem and victory. Oh crap.

Chapter Eleven: Departure

• There is only one person on Remnant that Vale holds a grudge against. It's not Salem or Atlas. It's Ozpin. When America asks what Ozpin did, she laughs bitterly and says "What didn't he do?"
• Weiss sees her father's execution on the news. Not a news story about the execution, the actual execution. Blake covers Weiss's eyes before the firing squad shoots.

Chapter Twelve: In Transit

• Penny indirectly admits she would leave "certain individuals" on the airship to die if they were in danger. Not out of malice, but because she does not care about them and they are not part of her mission to protect Alfred. If she likes you or thinks you are useful, she'll protect you. If she doesn't...
• An intelligent Grimm appears in Białowieża Forest. It does not attack and instead studies Germany before calmly allowing itself to be killed by Denmark. It's heavily implied something is controlling it. When Germany asks it "Who are you?" (not "What are you?") it's amused.

Chapter Thirteen: Here, Kitty Kitty

• The Byakko Grimm:
  • Like many of its kind, bullets bounce off its hide.
  • It easily pins Lithuania beneath a single paw and grabs Austria as he tries to attack it. It swings him around in its teeth by his shoulder, biting deeper and deeper as Austria screams and struggles.
  • It does not care about Prussia or Poland because it knows they cannot hurt it, so it focuses on the prey it has trapped in its teeth and claws.
  • It's only because of the Atlas soldier that the nations realize its eyes are its weak point and are able to bring it down. If the soldier had not helped them they would have been torn apart.
• The Atlas soldier assumes Prussia is one of his fellow spies. When he finds out he isn't, he points his gun at Prussia with the intent of shooting him. Poland, Lithuania, and Austria are too injured to help Prussia, and the latter two are too injured to move at all. If AGATE had not arrived when they did, who knows what the soldier would have done to the nations (who he could not kill) in order to keep them from sharing his location.

Chapter Fourteen: No Such Thing As Privacy

• Russia attacks America in the bathroom in a scene reminiscent of Domestic Abuse. He grabs America roughly and shoves him around while holding him by the throat. When America accidentally fights back (by unintentionally igniting) Russia shoves him into the wall and pins him there with a hand over his mouth while taunting him about how weak he's become. He releases America and lets him fall to the floor and promises they will continue this "game" until America stops flinching at his touch.
• Vale begs America to be careful around Ozpin with genuine fear. When America suggests destroying one of the Relics to stop Salem, Ozpin gives him a Death Glare.
  • When Ozpin becomes angry, Vale begins hyperventilating.
• Ozpin did something to Vale so she cannot speak about his past. Whenever she tries, she chokes or sounds like she's being gagged. What did Ozpin do to her?

Chapter Fifteen: Unease and Hysteria

• Upon finding out Sterlyn is a pilot, the Woodland natives swarm him. They go so far as to grab him and yank him around, forcing Weiss and the others to shove their way between the crowd and the pilot.
• The Grimm are so close to Woodland that they can be seen from the walls.
• America is overwhelmed by the fear, despair, and depression of the people of Woodland. Their thoughts and feelings briefly overcome his mind to the point where he begins considering suicide like some of them. He snaps out of it and has a minor freakout upon realizing he can't figure out whether those thoughts came from him or the people.
• In the past, people in small towns with depression or other mental issues were exiled and indirectly sentenced to die in the woods because of stigmas (aka old wives' tales) against people who would "attract Grimm".

Chapter Sixteen: Divide Them

• Russia grabs America and shoved him into an empty hotel room. We don't see what happens and it cuts to Russia leaving America bloody and bruised on the floor.
  • The way the scene cuts away could be seen as a Rape Discretion Shot. When it returns to America's point of view he is in considerable pain and staring hollowly at the wall, feeling shame and the "echoes" of Russia's unwanted touches on his skin.
• The way Ozpin casually dismisses America's claims. He acts like Vale is petty and overreacting and America is naive for believing her. Once again, Ozpin's acting abusive.
  • Even though they know Ozpin did something to Vale, they also know they might need him in the future. America has to stay and continue to work with the man that hurt him.
• England realizes Ozpin may plan to use Earth as another "new solution" if Remnant falls.
• England warns Ozpin that if he tries to sacrifice any of England's loved ones, he will find a way to target Ozpin's Aura (with magic or a bioweapon) to ensure he continually dies over and over whenever he reincarnates.

Chapter Eighteen: Going Down

• The airship flies towards what appears to be a black thunderstorm. It's not a storm: It's a gigantic wall of Grimm. They tear through the airship and cause it to crash into the lake.
• America is sucked out through the broken windshield and flounders in the dark lake as the airship sinks out of sight. He is unable to tell up from down and swims towards what he thinks is the airship's lights, only to break through the surface. He, Italy, Sterlyn, and Yang are the only ones to surface. Everyone else is in the airship somewhere in the lake. Yang screams for Ruby and dives back under.
• A huge crocodile Grimm comes out of nowhere and latches onto Yang's robotic arm before spinning her in a death roll. When America attacks it, its jaws snap shut on his leg. He's able to stab it before it can drag him away. All the while America and Yang are struggling to hold their breath.
• An even bigger crocodile Grimm would have eaten Nora if Australia's catfish did not distract it.
• Australia uses his Semblance to control a school of catfish which all swarm the crocodile Grimm and inject it with enough poison that it dies.

Chapter Nineteen: Something Amiss

• America is the only one unaffected by Salem's emotion manipulation. When his friends turn on each other and Canada and Russia come to blows, he is clear-minded and horrified, while the rest react to the violence with annoyance at best.
• In a scene reminiscent of Domestic Abuse, Canada insults and punches America, leaving him with bruises. No one bats an eye except Weiss and Ruby. Even England doesn't care that Canada struck America hard enough that he crumpled to the ground.
• America is completely alone with his friends when this happens, and can't trust them while they are influenced like this. They outnumber him more than ten to one, and they are perfectly willing to attack him if he so much as looks at them the wrong way. Worse, some think he is asking to be hurt by trying to stop them. America knows they aren't themselves and are a threat to him while they are like this, so he logically puts some distance between himself and them. He runs right into Salem, just as she planned.

Chapter Twenty: Face to Fake Face

• Salem pins America down with summoned Grimm limbs and forces Grimm essence into his mouth— Grimm essence like the kind Emerald has in her body. The essence has a mind of its own and crawls over America's body and tries to force its way down his throat. America struggles not to swallow the stuff as it blocks his airways and he nearly blacks out from suffocating. The essence is able to force itself partly down his throat before he incinerates it.
• America tries to get away but Salem chases him down and traps him again. She decides to go for a more direct application of the Grimm essence and her hand transforms into claws as she prepares to slice America open and administer the Grimm essence that way. America barely manages to get free in time.
• Salem only shows slight annoyance when she is cut in half by Russia. Why? Because the Salem they fought wasn't Salem's real body. It was her spirit and form overtaking a Grimm. And it only had access to a tiny portion of her power. It took almost all of the heroes to stop Salem there, yet she was nowhere near her full strength.
  Blake: "If that was a weaker version of Salem, how will any of us stand a chance against the real thing?"
• As brought up by Yang, any Grimm the heroes face can become Salem. Anything from a Nuckelavee to a newborn Beowolf can possibly turn into the Queen of the Grimm.

Chapter Twenty-One: Swift Retribution

• AGATE barely stops a horde of Grimm from reaching a populated town. The townspeople have no idea how close they were to being attacked by demonic monsters.
• An Atlas agent attacks Germany, Finland, Denmark, and Hungary. His Semblance allows him to turn air into explosive blasts. The fight is brutal as the nations are easily tossed around by their opponent. He sends Denmark through a window and throws Hungary through machinery.
• When Germany sees AGATE's mission coordinates and realizes someone in the American government agency they have been working with is a spy.
• Salem attacks Frontier to hurt America. He writhes and screams in agony for hours, coughing up blood as it also gushes from his left eye. When the attack ends, he is blind in that eye.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Scars Upon Scars

• Ruby blames America for Qrow's death. Because of that, she sits by and does nothing when he is dragged away by Russia, even though she knows America does not want to go with him and Russia has physically assaulted him in the past. She bitterly acknowledges what she's doing is wrong but still does not act.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Trouble Magnet

• Canada has a nightmare where America is dead and he has become the personification for both Canadians and Americans. One of the walls to the meeting room falls away and he sees America's blood-covered body. America's heart has been cut out, leaving him with a gaping hole in his chest.
• Both Roman and Tyrian consider America a "package/gift" for Salem. To them, America is not a person, just an object to be delivered to their boss.
• France loses it when Tyrian calls him Vacuo and mercilessly beats him. America notes France is not fighting gracefully like he normally does, but like a rabid animal or predator. France breaks Tyrian's new tail and slits his throat unflinchingly.
• The entire scene where France approaches America. France is out of his mind and unable to see reality clearly. The blood-covered France turns to America and stalks towards him with a blank expression. Vale screams for America to run but he's too shocked by Tyrian's brutal death to move. France hugs America and calls him "Matthieu" with his pupils blown wide. America hesitantly tells him he's Alfred while knowing one wrong word may cause France to attack him. He stares at America for a couple minutes without seeing him. France's hands briefly linger at America's throat like he is about to strangle him but go up to cup his cheeks. He agrees America is Alfred and says he will protect him too. America does not dare to move as France hugs him closely. He closes his eyes and when they open his pupils are back to normal.
• Everyone has to kill Grimm as soon as they appear or risk letting Salem show up. This is while they are fighting Salem's henchmen (all of them) and White Fang.
• Adam uses his Semblance (which allows him to control Faunus) to keep Blake frozen in place and unable to fight. The others are forced to protect her.
• Emerald catches Canada in the chest with her Grimm essence tendrils. The wound is barely bigger than a fingernail, but it's enough to infect him.

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Ones Who Suffer Most

• Canada still had Aura when Emerald attacked him with the Grimm essence. Aura can't protect you from being infected.
• Salem attacks America's mansion and sets it on fire by turning into a Phoenix Grimm. She also breaks Uni's horn and nearly kills her by snapping her neck.
• China is forced to chop off Denmark's arm to stop the Grimm essence from infecting him.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Alfred Jones and the Seven Sacrifices

• Countless people were sacrificed in the temple to give Ozpin more power.
• After being separated from everyone except Pyrrha and Penny, America slowly puts the pieces together for why Ozpin brought him to the ruins. He realizes the chamber was used for human sacrifices and Ozpin intends to kill him. He's more stunned than terrified as he comprehends what is going on, and cannot act before Ozpin traps him and the girls.
• Ozpin pins Pyrrha and Penny to the wall and America to the altar with magic. He also neutralizes their Semblances. Pyrrha can only struggle and scream; first at Ozpin, then for help when he keeps going with his plan to sacrifice America.
• Oscar's soul is slowly being overwritten by Ozpin’s.
• The way Ozpin acts in the sacrifice scene. He's reluctant, but he doesn't stop because he feels he has to do this. No amount of pleading, logic, or guilt slinging can make him hesitate. He is willing to murder America and two witnesses to get more power. None of his actions are done out of revenge or sadism: he's doing it because he honestly thinks there is no other choice.
• Ozpin keeps America pinned with tight magical pressure around his body and throat. America can't move and can barely breathe.
• We finally find out what Ozpin did to Vale. When she refused to take part in his "new solution", he tortured her until she used her Semblance on the device meant to lock away the Relic of Choice. She calls him an impostor wearing her King's skin and he commands her to never speak ill of her master again while holding the Relic. The pain Vale suffers as the geas takes hold is horrifying; she feels her tongue and throat burning as the Relic binds her and her words are stripped away.
• Ozpin is about to cut out America's heart when Oscar takes control back. He drops the dagger and grips at his head while screaming that he won't let Ozpin hurt his friends. He desperately begs America to hand him Cobalt Striker, and upon receiving it, knocks himself out.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Hunter and the Hunted

• One day, the Warrior King claimed he was tired and went to bed. Only Ozpin woke up.
• Just how ruthless Ozpin was in the past:
  • When Vale refuses to help Ozpin seal the Relic of Choice, he orders his men to torture her. They hold her down, and she cannot risk using her Semblance or she gives Ozpin what he wants. One of the men uses his Semblance on her, which exerts painful psychic pressure on her head that grows more intense by the second. Vale accidentally lets her Semblance flare and activates the sealing orb. Ozpin is pleased she "cooperated".
  • Ozpin has a facade of pleasantry to him, just like Salem. He shows his true colors when Vale says he is not her King. He immediately loses his cool and calls Vale an "insolent wench".
  • When another Silver-Eyed girl shows up after Summer, Ozpin sends her first year team on a mission meant for third years. They all die, not to the Grimm, but to the Silver-Eyed girl. All that's left of Gretchen Rainart is a foot, which is given to her older brother in a small box.
• Ruby barely has time to point herself at her enemies (and away from her friends) before she loses control to Silver Eyes. The scenes where she hunts down the White Fang members is reminiscent of a horror movie monster hunting people. The White Fang don't stand a chance.
• Ruby nearly vaporizes Italy. Again.
• Salem snatches Ruby mid-Semblance and holds her by her throat, slowly tightening her grip and crushing Ruby's trachea.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Bitter Fate

• A few of Russia's bosses slit his throat to punish him. This happened enough times that he has multiple overlapping scars on his neck.
• The Warden Grimm. It is a gigantic, hovering, Dementor-like Eldritch Abomination with seven arms, an exposed cage-like ribcage, and dagger-tipped tendrils that form a tattered "cloak". It is almost completely invulnerable. Even its own daggers cannot harm it. Its tendrils can be cut, but it instantly regenerates. It can also teleport at the short range or is fast enough that it seems to vanish when it moves. And its daggers pierce Jaune and Pyrrha's shields with ease. Salem was not playing around when she created this thing.
• Blake tells America to run but he snaps he can't. The Warden Grimm will teleport after him and even Ruby is not fast enough to avoid it. It will not stop until it has him.
• A single hit from the Warden Grimm depletes Blake's Aura.
• America and Canada are grabbed by the Warden Grimm and shoved into its torso. Its ribs close around them to form an impenetrable cage. They can see through its membrane but cannot break through it.
• England can see America and Canada struggling to break free but cannot help them.
• The heroes cannot defeat the Warden Grimm before it teleports away with Canada inside it. Salem has Canada.
• Blake's death. She is struck directly in the chest by the Warden Grimm's daggers and crumples in a spray of blood. Yang checks on her but she is already dead with her eyes still open. There is no final goodbyes or speech for her. She dies in an instant, so fast that her friends do not realize what has happened at first.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Goodbye

• The Warden Grimm's attack cleaved Blake's heart in two. She was dead before she hit the ground.
• Salem used a few of her ribs to create the Warden Grimm. Her torso is now misshapen.
• Salem manipulates the Grimm essence inside Canada to cause him excruciating pain. It roils and writhes beneath his skin and through his organs.
• A single touch from the Relic of Destruction has Canada screaming in agony.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Explosion

• America considers suicide, in part so Salem cannot get him and win, but also because of what Ruby said to him. Imagine saying something cruel to your friend who in no way deserved it (and who has mental issues including depression), and what you said nearly pushes them to commit suicide. What the hell, Ruby?
• Seeing Pyrrha lose her temper. She explodes at Ruby and rakes her over the coals for blaming Alfred for Blake and Qrow's deaths before storming off to cool down. Ruby had it coming but seeing Pyrrha chew her out is a shock.

Chapter Thirty: Recklessness of the Grieving Fool

• Canada's Grimm veins have spread over his body and his skin has become white. His appearance is changing and now he looks like Salem.
• Canada's mental state is changing too. His aggression has become hatred, so much so that he tells Emerald he wishes he'd strung Cinder's headless body from Beacon Tower.
• Roman and Salem begin influencing America's emotions before any of the heroes know they are there. They rapidly alternate between making America uncaring and enhancing his grief to the point where he is in physical pain and nearly blacks out. He is completely unable to defend himself when Salem's forces attack.
• Roman makes it so the outer group does not care enough to come to the inner group's defense. He invokes Bystander Syndrome to such an extent that Ruby does not come running when she hears America and Penny screaming in pain.
• Salem stomps on Penny's head and slowly starts pressing down to crush her skull. Penny screams in pain as her vocalizer becomes distorted and she emits a high-pitched shrieking noise.
• Ozpin tries to take over Oscar as he fights Hazel, distracting Oscar and losing him the fight. The only reason Oscar is still alive is because Hazel does not think Ozpin is worth killing at this point.
• Salem knocks out the remaining fighters in the area with a single pulse of aura. She's that powerful.
• America has been captured by Salem's forces. Salem is about to win.

Chapter Thirty-One: Prisoners

• Roman was forced to discover his Semblance by Salem. "Forced" as in tortured until he unlocked it.
• Roman is more violent, aggressive, and unhinged; a far cry from the Affably Evil criminal he used to be. He threatens America with a knife and wants to cut out his good eye. He claims it is so America can't see to run away, but clearly wants to do it to make America suffer.
• Roman says he's been dreaming about carving America up with his knife as America bleeds, writhes, and screams beneath him, begging for death.
• Roman tells America he would happily shove Grimm essence down his throat if he had any on hand.
• The scene where Roman force feeds America is disturbingly comparable to a rape scene. America is bound and blindfolded when Roman has Mercury shove him down and hold him in place. America can only listen as Roman unzips something and presses something against his lips. America refuses to open his mouth so Roman squeezes his throat, causing him to gasp for air. Roman He the thing into America's mouth and lets him gag and choke for a bit before yanking it out. Roman mocks America and threatens to hurt him if he fights back or bites him. He holds America by his hair to keep his head still as he feeds him bits of the bread. America can do nothing but comply and hope the food isn't poisoned.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Now You'll Pay

• America's illness and fever has gotten so bad he's nearly delirious. He would have activated the sleeping spell on accident if Vale did not hastily interrupt him.
• America accidentally speaks to Vale out loud. Roman takes this as an opportunity to thoroughly search America for quote-unquote "tech he's using to contact the others". In reality Roman jumps on the opportunity to violently rip America's clothes off his body in a scene reminiscent of the one with the stepsisters in Cinderella. Made worse because Roman uses a knife to cut away America's clothes, leaving him shivering in his underwear.
• Roman uses his Semblance on Hazel to stop him from helping America. His desire to make America suffer is greater than his fear of Hazel, and there is nothing he won't do to make America's life hell.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Goldilocks and the Bear

• The Ursa Spawner. It towers over the forest around it and bats the heroes around like nothing. Worst of all, it can regenerate. England has to completely vaporize it in order to stop it.
• Yang is nearly swallowed alive by the Ursa Spawner. Raven yanks her out of its jaws milliseconds before they snap shut.
• Roman slices up America's skin while he is unconscious in order to torture Canada. Canada keeps hallucinating and sometimes see Roman carving up his brother's corpse.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Twisted Tales

• Salem does not have Emerald hold a knife to Canada's throat to encourage America to open the Vault door. She has Emerald slash Canada's throat open and relies on America's ensuing Power Incontinence to open the door. It's yet another display of how ruthless both Salem and Emerald are.
• Salem leaves Canada to bleed out outside of the Vault door. America is carried over Hazel's shoulder and sees Canada struggling weakly in a growing pool of his own blood until he stops moving.
• The Grimm essence in Canada's body reacts to his injury by sealing the wound with its ooze.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Choose Wisely

• America declares he will protect the Relic of Choice with his life while holding it. The Relic interprets that as a "choice" and sinks into his torso while burning him from the inside. It's so painful America forgets everything but the pain, even his own name.
• Salem cannot touch America so she calmly orders her Grimm to destroy DC and Vale to kill him.

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Last Defensive

• Aster's Semblance makes his targets trust him implicitly. Germany falls to it and lowers his weapon, only to nearly get a bullet in the forehead. Prussia saves him at the last second.
• Not one, but three Spawner Grimm are headed for Washington DC.
• America's suffering as Vale is attacked. He's in agony as wounds appear all over his body and he starts choking on his own blood.
• Salem cannot touch America. Roman can so Salem orders him to "break into the new Vault".
• Canada shows what he can do with his Semblance when he does not hold back. He erases part of Emerald's memory so she is unaware that she is hunting him and she lowers her guard. Canada immediately cuts off her head. Holy shit.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Red Bullseye

• Roman's torture of America. He stabs and burns him horribly while mocking him all the while. America cannot allow himself to think about or wish for death because if he does, the Relic of Choice will kill him.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Empty

• England uses his Semblance to turn the Grimm on Mercury. He screams as the Grimm tear him apart.
• Canada's POV. The Grimm parasite has infected his mind and he's running on bloodlust. It's horrifying to see the sweet and gentle Canada so violent and bloodthirsty. He can only stop himself from going back and killing England, France, Ruby, and Weiss by focusing on another person's emotional pain. Even worse, that person he's focusing on is America.
• The Relic of Choice is tearing apart America's mind. The narration describes his mind splitting apart as it tries to comprehend all of the information and power the Relic of Choice gives him. The only reason he's still mostly sane is because he's a personification. If a human was in contact with the Relic of Choice like he is, they would go mad.
• When Canada arrives, Salem takes control of him. Canada reaches up and begins strangling America, who had been tearfully hugging him seconds before. Canada does not struggle or try to fight the control at all. That's how strong Salem's control over him is.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Ashes in the Wind

• During their fight, Canada uses his Semblance on America to viciously Mind Rape him and leaves Alfred terrified, confused, and unable to remember what is currently happening to him. All he knows is that he is in pain and someone is attacking him.
• A Grimm gets its jaws around America's throat before Canada shoves it away.
• The damage the Relic does to America throughout the chapter. By the end, he's vomiting blood-flecked bile.
• The Relic of Creation and Knowledge's location is revealed. They're inside Salem's torso.

Chapter Forty-One: Your Biggest Mistake

• Sealand is nearly mauled by an Ursa. It slashes Copper across the back from shoulder to hip and he bleed out on the floor.
• Canada's bloodthirst. He grins widely and speaks in a guttural tone when Weiss stabs a Beringel.
• Tony does not seem to care if any people of Remnant are caught up in his weapon's explosion.

Chapter Forty-Two: All Things Must Die

• Salem uses her abilities to snuff out Ruby's Silver Eyes and incapacitate the others. Thank the Gods that England's Semblance works as a counter.
• Salem breaks Myrtenaster and stabs Weiss through the shoulder with the broken end. For a moment, America thought Weiss was dead.
• Salem grabs the sacrificial dagger and stabs America between his ribs.
• Just when the heroes think they are safe, the Vault begins collapsing around them. Without Italy's Semblance, they would have been buried alive.
• Ruby's destruction of the Relic of Choice, which is inside America. She has to perform what is essentially emergency surgery on America with the Relic of Destruction. One wrong thought or move could kill America faster than she could say "Oops."

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